Layton slams ‘smear campaign’ over massage-parlour allegations

Riding a surge of support over the last days of the federal election campaign, the NDP was rocked Friday night by allegations from a media organization about a visit party leader Jack Layton made to a massage business in the mid-1990s.

Mr. Layton, campaigning in British Columbia, answered the allegations by saying, “It’s unfortunate to see the smear campaign starting in these last few days of the campaign. Absolutely nothing wrong was done, there’s no wrongdoing here, but the smears start.”

“You know, this (the allegation) is why a lot of people get turned off politics and don’t even want to get involved. I think it’s very unfortunate,” Mr. Layton told reporters travelling with him in Courtenay, B.C.

Olivia Chow, who is running for re-election in a Toronto riding and is Layton’s wife, also said the report by a Toronto Sun reporter was nothing but a “smear campaign” intended to question Layton’s character. Ms. Chow called the allegations “completely and utterly false.”

Ms. Chow said she was aware of the incident that reportedly took place in 1996, and said there was no wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Layton.

“Sixteen years ago, my husband went for a massage at a massage clinic that is registered with the City of Toronto. He exercises regularly; he was and remains in great shape; and he needed a massage,” she said.

“No one was more surprised than my husband when the police informed him of allegations of potential wrongdoing at this establishment.”

Ms. Chow said Mr. Layton told her about the incident after it happened.

The Toronto Sun’s story alleges that police found Mr. Layton naked on a bed in a suspected bawdy house in 1996 in Toronto’s Chinatown. It attributes its information to an unnamed, retired Toronto police officer.

The news organization said its report was based on the notebook of the retired officer. The notebook, according to the Sun report, allegedly reports a conversation in which the policeman asks Mr. Layton whether he received sexual services. Mr. Layton, a Toronto city councillor at the time, reportedly answers that he did not.

The newspaper reports that the police decided not to charge him.

“In the last hours of this election, this is nothing more than a smear campaign in an attempt to question my husband’s character,” Ms. Chow said Friday night.

Both the Liberal and Conservative campaigns declined Friday to comment on the allegations.

Brian Iler, a New Democratic Party lawyer, said in a statement that Mr. Layton received a massage, but had “no knowledge whatsoever that the therapist’s location may have been used for illicit purposes.”

Mr. Iler said Mr. Layton recalls being told by police that he did nothing wrong, but that the location was “questionable” and was “to be stayed away from.”

Karl Belanger, Mr. Layton’s press secretary, said the party was “in the process of looking at our (legal) options.”

For his part, Mr. Layton told reporters, “What we’ll do is keep pressing ahead with calling for real change in Ottawa because frankly, this is the kind of thing people say is wrong in Ottawa politics today.

“So, we’re just going to keep up the campaign right through to the end,” Mr. Layton said.

He did not address the specific allegations in the Sun’s report.

A spokesman for the Toronto police also declined to comment late Friday. “I have no knowledge of that, and there’s no one here that would be able to speak to that at this time,” Staff Sgt. Mike Callaghan told Postmedia News.

“Someone’s going to have to do some research on that incident before the organization is going to speak on it.”

Mr. Layton and the NDP have been riding high in the last few weeks, with polls showing the party has pulled ahead of the Liberals and is sitting just a few points behind the Conservatives. After making his statement, he attended a rally of about 700 people.

Layton was first elected to public office as a Toronto city councillor in 1982. In 1996, he was still a Toronto councillor.

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